Simon continues his series begun with Earth and The Moon (both Four Winds, 1984) and including Jupiter and Saturn (both Morrow, 1985) with the same format and level of success in this pair on the stars and the sun. The…

Simon continues his series begun with Earth and The Moon (both Four Winds, 1984) and including Jupiter and Saturn (both Morrow, 1985) with the same format and level of success in this pair on the stars and the sun. The brief text and dazzling illustrations serve as a sort of picture glossary introducing the terminology of stellar objects. Stars presents constellations; the distance to, size, and temperature of the stars; the nuclear power source of stellar energy; binary systems, clusters, galaxies, and quasars; the possibility of other solar systems; and stellar evolution, novae, black holes, neutron stars, and pulsars. The Sun discusses the sun as a star; its distance from earth, size, and temperature; the solar system; the sun's hydrogen-fueled nuclear power; the parts of the sun and its atmosphere; eclipses, sunspots, prominences, flares, and the aurorae. Some may quibble that the wording of the descriptions of some very complex topics (e.g., nuclear reactions) is at times superficial, but such cursory treatment is necessitated by the texts' brevity and the limited background of their intended audience. A couple of illustrations are handled in less than stellar fashion: the color-coded coronagraph, while spectacular in itself, is said to "show different levels of brightness in the corona," but the meaning of these varying colors is not explained at all. Nor is there any explanation of the way in which the magnetogram shows the north and south poles of sunspot pairs. Most readers will overlook these limitations, though, and revel in the other photos as well as in Simon's writing, which, in its clarity, conveys an almost childlke sense of wonder at these objects. Like the earlier titles, this pair is sure to be popular.